


The Invisible Hulk

by Zorro_sci



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bruce Banner Has Issues, Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, the team loves Bruce
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-02
Updated: 2014-07-02
Packaged: 2018-02-07 02:32:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1881786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zorro_sci/pseuds/Zorro_sci
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce is well-practiced at fading into the background.  It shouldn't surprise him that the Avengers ignore him.  But it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt.</p><p>What will happen when he needs them to notice him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Invisible Hulk

**Author's Note:**

> Written in response to an Avengerskink prompt.

Bruce had spent years trying to be invisible. He had tried to stay out of the limelight, out of public consciousness, and out of sight of those who were after him. He was gifted at blending into a crowd or into the background. It had been necessity when Ross had been pursuing him.

Given how well Bruce had mastered the art of hiding in plain sight, it should come as no surprise that no one notices him now. Sure, he supposedly has a team, and Tony had sure paid a lot of attention to him until he had agreed to stay and work for him, but once the battle of New York was over and Bruce was moved into Stark Towers, life went on for the Avengers. They went their separate ways, and when they came back together Clint, Natasha, Steve, and sometimes Tony, began bonding over sparring and meals while Bruce faded back into the background. That was what was natural for him after all. 

For the first few months after he had moved in, he and Tony had worked quite closely in the lab. He had grown used to having someone with him. A colleague, and dare he hope a friend, but then everything had changed suddenly. Starting a few weeks ago, Tony had started keeping to his own lab. Every once in a while Tony would pop into Bruce's lab and ask him a science question, but even then he hardly looked up from his work or acknowledged the other man for more then the moments it took to get the answer he needed.

Bruce knew he should have expected it. His life had been that way long before the Hulk. Still, he was surprised how much it hurt. After all those years of running, he was hoping that if he put down roots it would mean that he finally had friends, people who cared about him. He had thought he could belong with the Avengers, but he had clearly been fooling himself. Why would they want to befriend the beast? 

The biggest disappointment was Tony. Tony had really seemed to care on the Helicarrier. He had gone out of his way to make Bruce feel at home the first few months that he lived in the Tower, but now Bruce was left wondering if he had just been another project for Tony, and now that he had gotten him to stay and settle down it was mission accomplished and on to the next task.

One lonely day at Stark Tower, Bruce was in the lab studying some sort of alien pod that the latest invasion had left behind. He was carefully dissecting the specimen when suddenly the pod expelled some sort of spores at him in a movement that resembled a sneeze. Bruce did his best to avoid the spray, but it had caught him by surprise and covered him. He even accidentally breathed some of it in.

Just to be on the safe side, Bruce stripped down, throwing his clothes in the hazardous waste container, and jumped under the emergency lab shower. Once he was sure that he had washed all of the spores off, he covered himself in a clean lab coat and snuck upstairs to put on fresh clothes. Once again dressed in uncontaminated clothes, he continued his work as if nothing had happened until he was so exhausted that he called it a night.

The next morning, when Bruce woke, he had a headache that felt like it was trying it split his head in two. He wasn't quite sure why he had a headache, but they were pretty common place since the Other Guy had shown up. He brushed it off as nothing more than another stress headache, and headed to the bathroom. When he glanced at the mirror as he walked by he saw a haggard and pale face looking back. That was unusual. He usually only looked like that after a transformation. Still, he hadn't been sleeping well in the past few weeks. Maybe it was catching up to him. Coming to the conclusion that that must be what was going on, he padded down to the common kitchen for breakfast.

The other Avengers were sitting at the table eating omelets that Steve had prepared for them while making small talk. Bruce made himself a cup of tea and some toast, and joined the others at the table. No one acknowledged his presence except Tony, who gave him a short nod, but continued talking to the others without even pausing to verbally greet Bruce.

 _'The only Avenger they pay less attention to is Thor, and that's only because he's on Asgard. If he was actually on the same planet I bet they would at least say good morning to him,_ ' Bruce thought bitterly before mentally scolding himself for the thought.

Bruce took a couple small bites of his toast and was hit with a wave of nausea. That was weird. Bruce didn't get sick. At least not since the accident. Sure, the Hulk had made him lose his home, his career, Betty and everything else familiar to go on the run, but the one good thing that had come from it was that he was immune to all known diseases. Sure, the transformation exhausted him and he had gotten a lot of headaches since the green guy had shown up, but he hadn't had so much as a sniffle in the past five years. 

Telling himself that his nausea was nothing more than an overblown physical response to the indifference his teammates were showing him. _'Way to be dramatic, Banner.'_ He continued to eat his toast until he had to run from the room and find a bathroom.

As he vomited for the first time in what had seemed like ages, he wondered what was happening. Something wasn't right. His blood was toxic. Not even bacteria or viruses were able to live in an environment with that much radiation, so what was going on?

Getting to his feet after he had lost his breakfast, he made his way over to the sink. He splashed some water on his face and looked into the mirror. He looked even paler than he had earlier that morning, and there were dark purple, bruise-like bags under his eyes.

Just as he was about to entertain the thought that he might actually somehow be ill, he heard JARVIS' voice asking the Avengers to assemble on the landing pad. There was some sort of emergency and they were needed immediately.

 _'Duty calls,'_ he thought as he pushed everything else out of his mind and made his way to the designated meeting spot.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Avengers had been fighting for the past two hours. The robot army they were up against may not be particularly well constructed, but there sure were a lot of them. Sure, they were easy targets. They were fairly slow moving and their armor was lousy, but they just kept coming in what seemed like an endless stream.

"The next wave is coming in," Tony informed the others through his comm.

"More?" Natasha sighed as she dismantled several of the attacking hunks of metal.

"Where are they coming from?" Steve asked as he took down a line of the shiny soldiers with a throw of his shield.

"Some type of cargo plane that keeps circling over head," Clint replied.

"Tony, take the Hulk and see if you can get the plane down," Steve commanded.

"Aye, aye sir," Tony mocked, but he banked towards the last know location of the Hulk even as he did so. Only he wasn't there. He flew a little further, but to no avail. The Hulk was no where in sight.

 _'Huh,'_ thought Tony, ' _you'd think it would be difficult to lose a giant, green rage monster. Where could he be?'_

Tony flew closer to what was clearly debris left behind by the rage-fueled Avenger's smashing. He was scanning the area when something caught his eye among the rubble. There, laying naked and unconscious among a pile of broken bricks was Bruce Banner. Tony got even closer and noticed that the doctor was looking pale, and in general very unwell.

"Hey guys, the Hulk is down. Well, what I mean is he's turned back into Banner," Tony informed the team.

"What?!? He's never turned back in the middle of a battle before," Steve replied incredulously.

"Yeah, well Banner doesn't look so good. Maybe that's why he changed back," Tony answered.

"What do you mean 'doesn't look so good'?" Clint asked.

"He's pale and looks kind of frail," Tony said as he knelt down next to the unconscious form. He removed one of his gauntlets and gently touched Bruce's cheeks and forehead. "And he's burning up."

"I thought he couldn't get sick," Natasha stated.

"Well, it looks like he is. I'm going to get him back to the Helicarrier as quickly as possible. I'll be back once I've gotten him some medical attention. This can't be good," Tony said ominously.

 _'Stupid, stupid, stupid,'_ Tony thought to himself. _'Why didn't you pay more attention to Bruce this morning? Why didn't you ask him how he was feeling when you saw how pale and tired he looked? Why didn't you follow him when he suddenly dashed out of the room? Genius?!? Ha. You have got to be the stupidest man alive._ '

"I think we've got this under control. You can stay with him once you get there," Steve replied as he mentally berated himself. ' _Someone ought to. It's the least we can do. How did we not even notice that he went down? How did we not notice that he wasn't feeling well? Bruce is part of the team. We ignored him. We need to do better.'_

"Agreed. Someone should stay with him, and he seems to trust you Stark," Natasha affirmed. _'He's sick. He's not supposed to get sick.'_

"Take care of him Stark," Clint added. _'Better care of him than we have been so far.'_

"Will do," Tony said quickly before picking up the unconscious physicist in his arms and taking off with him for SHIELD's flying fortress.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone on the Helicarrier had been very surprised when Tony had flown back carrying a very ill Dr. Banner in his arms. For a moment they had stood in surprise, but they quickly regained their composure and rushed the feverish man to the medical ward, leaving a very worried and guilt-ridden Tony behind.

Tony had shed the suit and gone to wait outside the medical bay. He felt numb as he sat waiting for news about the man who tied his stomach in knots every time he saw him. True, Tony had been avoiding Bruce for the past few weeks, but it was only because he was afraid that he would scare the other scientist away by letting him know of his attraction to him. He knew Bruce had stayed reluctantly, and he also knew that he had a tendency to come on a little strong, (okay, a lot strong), when he liked someone. 

Afraid that any over the top declarations of admiration would send the shy doctor back to the other side of the world to hide out again, Tony had decided to keep his distance from the other man until he felt sure he could control himself. He still ate with him in the common dining area, and came into his lab on occasion to ask for scientific advice, but he had avoided looking at him when possible. He knew that if he gazed too long at Bruce's gorgeous eyes, his adorable curls, his handsome face, that would be it. He would be a goner. He would be unable to resist telling the other man just how much he liked him and asking him out to dinner some time. 

Still, none of that was any excuse. Just because he had been trying to avoid scaring the other man didn't mean he was exempt from taking care of him. Honestly, all he wanted to do was take care of him! If he truly liked him and cared about him as much as he thought he did, then he should have noticed. How could things have gotten this bad without him noticing?

What seemed like an eternity later, a SHIELD medic came out of the ward to update Tony on Bruce's status. Tony stood nervously when he saw the man approaching him, and fidgeted as the news was delivered.

"Dr. Banner had a temperature of 115 degrees when you brought him in. We believe the only reason he survived was because of the Hulk. We tried to cool him down, but his temperature is currently holding steady at 105 degrees. He is also severally dehydrated. He clearly has some sort of virus, but it is appears to be one that we are unfamiliar with, and even with the Hulk's healing ability we have no idea how the prolonged high fever will affect Dr. Banner. At this point, we need to manage his temperature as best as we can, keep him hydrated, and wait until an analysis of a sample of his blood can tell us more about this mysterious virus," the medic informed him emotionlessly.

Tony visibly swayed on his feet. He felt like he had been punched in the stomach. How could this be happening?

"Can I see him?" Tony asked hoarsely. He hadn't meant for his voice to come out that way, but the distressing revelation had left a lump in his throat.

"Well, the virus doesn't seem to be communicable from what we can tell, so I don't see why not," the man answered.

Tony nodded his thanks and quickly made his way to Bruce's side. His breath caught when he saw the sheet-white, man laying in the bed. He looked so unlike the Bruce he knew. He looked far to weak to be the man who had moved in with him a little over six months ago.

Shaking slightly, Tony sunk into a hard plastic chair that was next to Bruce's bed. He moved the chair forward, so that it was almost touching the side of mattress, and took one of Bruce's hands gently in his own. Then he began gently rubbing circles in the back of the other man's hand as his eyes swept over the drawn face that made him feel a sharp stab of worry and guilt in his chest.

Several hours passed, but Tony didn't move. He maintained a watchful vigil by Bruce's bedside, hoping and praying that the other man would be okay. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the other Avengers finished the battle they returned to the Helicarrier filthy and tired.  
It had taken longer than they thought to destroy the last of the robots, mainly because they were all distracted by Bruce's sudden collapse. 

In their distracted state Steve had dropped his shield twice, Natasha had let herself get cornered, and Clint had even missed a target!

Though they all wanted to shower and maybe go to bed, their consciences wouldn't let them do any of those things until they had inquired after Dr. Banner. They were informed that he was very ill, that still knew next to nothing about the virus causing his illness, and that Tony was with him, having never left his side from the moment they let him into the room where Bruce was being kept.

 _'Wow, that's the most seriously Stark has ever taken one of my orders,'_ the Captain thought when he heard of Tony's refusal to leave Bruce's side. He was surprised, but grateful, since he was feeling guilty for not taking better care of one of the men under his charge. He was still angry with himself for his lack of diligence, but it made him feel slightly better that Bruce would not have to face any of this alone due to Tony's shocking display of vigilance.

The remaining three Avengers decided that they would get themselves cleaned up and then take turns sitting with Bruce. Steve, as their leader, would take the first shift and relieve Tony of his duty, then Natasha, then Clint, and finally back to Tony and through the cycle again. With the plan firmly in place, they made their way to their respective rooms to wash off the layers of grim that coated their achy bodies.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Steve walked into the room, he was stunned by the sight in front of him. Bruce looked awful, but almost as shockingly Tony looked worried and, dare he say, caring. 

"You can go and get cleaned up and get some rest. I'll stay with him," Steve said as he came up along side Tony and rested a gentle hand on his slumped shoulder.

"No. I'll stay," Tony replied, never taking his eyes off of Bruce.

"Tony, you look tired," Steve remarked.

"I don't care. I'm not leaving," Tony answered firmly.

"Don't you think you're taking the order to stay with him a little too seriously?" Steve said in confusion, unsure why Tony was so reluctant to leave Banner's side.

Tony shot him a brief disgusted look before he turned his eyes back to Bruce and said, "This has nothing to do with your stupid order. There are more important things. Like knowing Bruce is okay."

"Look, Tony we all feel guilty. None of us noticed. But you don't need to stay here out of guilt. We're a team, and we're with him now. There will never not be someone at his side. And you need your rest Tony. Besides, if anyone should be keeping constant vigil out of guilt it should be me. I'm the team leader. I should have known that one of my men was too ill to fight. I should have never let Bruce out onto that battlefield," Steve sighed. 

"Team or no team, Bruce trusted me. He trusted me enough to move in with me. To let me into his life. I don't know if you've noticed Captain, but he doesn't do that very often. He doesn't trust people. He trusted me. And I let him down. I can't betray that trust again. I can't leave him," Tony answered brokenly.

"You're right Tony. You're the one he trusts. If you want to stay, you should stay. At least there'll be a friendly face when he wakes up. He barely knows the rest of us, and again that's my fault. I never asked him to join the team when we sparred. I never asked him if he wanted to be involved in team building. I was trying to respect his space, but I should have known he would never ask to be included. I'm the one in charge. I should have asked. To think I didn't offer him an omelet this morning. Heck, I didn't even say 'hello,'" Steve lamented.

Steve pulled up a chair next to Tony and the two of them sat staring at the still form of the physicist. The air hung heavy with regrets of words unsaid and actions not taken.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Natasha came to take her shift she tapped Steve on the shoulder to alert him to her presence, then she raised an eyebrow and gently gestured her head toward Tony as if to ask why he was still there. Steve got up and gently shrugged as if to say he didn't know, but he wasn't going to do anything about it. She got the unspoken message that she shouldn't try to do anything about it either, so she sat down in the chair next to Tony in silence.

Her eyes looked over Bruce's pale face before she turned to face Tony.

"Any change?" She asked simply.

"No," Tony answered with a sad shake of his head.

Once again Natasha merely nodded and silence fell over the room once more. She felt guilty, like Tony and Steve, but she wasn't the confession-making type, so she kept all of her feelings inside.

 _'It's so strange to see him like this. I had forgotten that he was a man. When I looked him, all I saw was the Hulk. How could I have forgotten that beneath all the green rage there's a man? People have always treated me as a weapon. That was all SHIELD saw of me when I showed up on their radar. It took Clint to see the person behind the weapon. How could I have not done the same for Dr. Banner?_ She thought.

The two of them sat in silence throughout Natasha's shift. Tony's eyes never left Bruce's face, while Natasha's eyes swept the area. She was determined to protect Bruce from whatever threats she could while he was vulnerable. She figured that was the least she could do.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clint entered the Helicarrier sick bay room so silently Tony didn't notice him until he realized that Natasha's silent form had been switched with the slightly larger form of the archer. The two spies had made the switch without so much as scuffing a shoe against the metallic floor.

"Hey," Clint said simply when he noticed Tony's gaze on him. 

"Hey," Tony answered as he turned his attention back to Bruce.

"You really care about him, don't you?" Clint asked, though it sounded more like a statement than a question. Natasha's significant glance between the two scientists before she had left had let him know what she thought.

Tony just nodded, not trusting himself to speak. There were too many emotions coursing through him, and even at the best of times he was notorious for saying the wrong thing. Besides, Bruce deserved to know what he was feeling about him before any of the others.

"I've been thinking, you're really the only one who sees him. The rest of us all but forgot about him. Sure, we treat the Hulk like a teammate. Fight along side him, encourage him through the battle, but when he turns back into Dr. Banner we throw him a set of clothes and forget about him," Clint explained with a far-off look in his eyes. "Sure, we could say that we're trying to give him his privacy or whatever, but really when he's human it's like we don't think of him as a member of the team anymore. It's wrong, is what it is. The Hulk has saved each of countless times, but when he transforms back and is at his most vulnerable, tired, weak, naked and disoriented, we say 'here cover up,' and leave him to fend for himself. That's not what teammates do. When someone is weak, that's when the team should rally around them."

Tony nodded numbly. Part of him was angry at his teammates for the way the had treated Bruce, but he wouldn't say anything. He knew he was just as guilty. 

Sure, he might have stayed by Bruce's side after a transformation. He might have protected the other man when he was at his weakest, but that was when he was unconscious. When Bruce was unaware, Tony stuck to him like glue, but when Bruce was awake he never made his concern for him known. 

That was just as wrong. From what Tony had read, Bruce had had less people he could truly trust in his lifetime than he had fingers on one hand. The number of people who had truly cared for him was painfully few, while the number of people who had betrayed him and tried to hurt him was ridiculously high for such a kind, sweet, unassuming man. 

Tony truly cared about Bruce. He wanted nothing more for Bruce than for him to be safe and happy. To be taken care of, especially after all the hardships Bruce had faced so far. Still, he had never shown Bruce those intentions. Not with his words or his actions. Bruce desperately needed to know he wasn't alone in the world, and Tony had fallen woefully short of the mark.

"We need to treat him better," Tony said when he trusted himself to speak. "He puts himself through excruciating pain just to let the Hulk help us each time we go into battle. Then, he patches us up when he changes back before he even takes care of himself, even though the transformation leaves him hurt and exhausted. 

He puts everyone before himself, and we let him. He's learned to fade into the background to protect himself, and we've let him. Sure, he's done everything he can to avoid attention, but we know why he's doing that. No one can blame him for that. We know the way people have mistreated and used him, and we should have done more to make him feel comfortable. 

We had an obligation to make him feel like he was part of the team, like he could trust us, and we failed. Bruce must have felt awful when we left the Tower this morning. I mean, the medic said he had a temperature of 115 when I brought him in, but he still didn't say anything to us. He didn't feel comfortable enough to let us know he was sick. We failed him."

Clint visibly stiffened at Tony's accusation, especially when Tony ended it with a sob he was unable to hold in. He knew Tony was right. They had failed Bruce. They had treated him like nothing more than a vessel for the Hulk. Not like a friend, not like a teammate, not even like a person. He knew they would have to do better, he just didn't know what they could do. 

Bruce was a very suspicious person. He had every reason to be, but that was going to make their job that much harder. Especially now that this had happened. It would be that much harder to convince him that their actions were sincere and not based in pity or "asset management."

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Clint's shift was nearly over he reached over and gentle patted Tony on the shoulder before standing and heading out of the room. He had left a couple minutes early in hopes of catching Captain America on his way into the room. 

His effort were rewarded when he had walked no more than two steps before he came face-to-face with the super soldier himself.

"Who's with Bruce?" Steve questioned upon seeing Clint in the hallway.

"Tony. He still hasn't left his side. Look, Cap, we need to talk about what we're going to do. We need to let Banner know that he's a part of this team. That he's allowed to speak his mind. That he can tell us when he's weak and expect that we'll protect him, not use it against him," Clint said.

"Do you think he'll believe us?" Steve questioned softly, the embers of his guilt being fanned back to hungry flames by Clint's words.

"Not at first. He's been hurt by a lot of people. Including people he should have been able to trust. But that just means we have to try that much harder," Clint reasoned. "Tony said that we failed him, and he's right. We need to do better."

Steve nodded in determination. "Let Natasha know. We have a lot of work to do."

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Steve entered the room to start his second watch he noticed that a bright blue liquid was dripping into Bruce's veins through his IV line. 

"What's that?" Steve asked gesturing to the bag of suspicious looking fluids.

"The SHIELD scientists say that's the antidote. Apparently Bruce got some alien virus while he was working with something in the lab. At least that's the theory," Tony said eyeing the supposed cure warily.

"Has he shown any improvement?" Steve asked hopefully.

"No, but they say it will take time, and they only hung that bag of anti-alien Blue Frost Gatorade about five minutes ago," Tony answered.

Steve didn't know what Blue Frost Gatorade was, but he caught Tony's sarcasm and knew now was not the time to ask. Instead, he sunk down into the chair next to Tony and silently continued to watch over their ill teammate.

Steve noticed, some what to his surprise, that Tony was holding Bruce's hand tightly in his own. He realized with even greater surprise that he remembered Tony holding Bruce's hand when he was there before. Had he been holding the other scientist's hand all this time? The gentle, caring man sitting next to him sure didn't seem to fit with the callous, flippant man that the captain had thought the billionaire to be.

"He'll be okay," Steve said, suddenly feeling the need to comfort other man. "They found a cure. He'll be alright."

"So they say, but these are the guys that couldn't even find the Tesseract. The 'geniuses' that couldn't figure out why Loki would need iridium," Tony stated bitterly. "Bruce is a genius, and his life is in the hands of people who took six hours to find a cure that looks like it belongs in a slushy machine. I suppose I could have tried to help, but I think I'd be useless right now. So much for being a genius. I can hardly put a coherent thought together."

"You're worried about him," Steve said as his mind processed this new information. He had no idea how much Tony cared about the doctor. 

It also came as a shock to be reminded that Bruce was, in fact, a genius. Sure, Steve knew, but he was just so quiet and unassuming that it was easy to forget that one of the brightest minds on the planet hid behind that fidgety, unassuming exterior.

"Nice detective work, Sherlock," Tony snarked.

Steve let it slide since he knew how distressed Tony was. Instead he clarified, "No, I mean you're so worried you can't think straight. He really means a lot to you, doesn't he Tony? . . . Do you love him?"

The question hung unanswered above them, huge and pressing. Tony felt like he was being crushed under its weight. What could he say? He certainly cared deeply about Bruce. He found himself thinking about the other scientist all the time. He had studied him and knew every line and mark on Bruce's face. He had a mental catalog of Bruce's facial expressions and smiles and what each of them meant. It had taken an act of will not to move into Bruce's lab or ask Bruce to move into his. He hadn't wanted to scare away the skittish physicist, even as he wanted to spend every waking moment with him. Did that mean he loved him?

"Gotta say Cap, you're the last person I would expect to be asking this question. I mean two men. Wasn't that asking for a beating in your time? Wouldn't that make me a freak or something?" Tony avoided the question.

"It would have been asking for a beating, but that doesn't mean that I agreed with that. I've always hated bullies. Besides, I was led to understand that things have changed. And you're avoiding the question. Do you love him?"

"I don't know . . . I think so," Tony answered honestly.

"What does the great Tony Stark not know?" they heard a brittle voice croak out from beside them.

They both turned to see Bruce smiling weakly at them from his bed. He still looked disoriented and weak, but he was awake.

"I'll go find a medic," Steve said as he stood to leave. He gave Tony's shoulder a quick squeeze and then left the room to give the pair some privacy.

"You're awake," Tony said, stating the obvious, hoping to change the subject.

"Yeah. What happened? I feel like I've been hit by a train," Bruce muttered with slight humor in his voice, despite his obvious discomfort.

"You got some sort of alien virus. Were you working with some alien substance in the lab?" 

"Umm . . . Oh . . I was dissecting one of the alien pods that those huge orange alien blobs left behind. It sprayed some sort of spores or something in my face," Bruce recalled.

"Well, whatever it was made you really sick. You transformed back in the middle of battle. By the time I got you back here your temperature had skyrocketed. They think the only reason you survived is because of our green friend," Tony stated as emotionlessly as he could, but even so he needed to turn away for a moment when he mentioned the possibility that Bruce might not have lived if it weren't for certain gamma mutations.

"I de-Hulked in the middle of a battle?!? Was everyone okay? Clint wasn't jumping down expecting the Other Guy when I changed back was he?" Bruce asked anxiously.

"You are unbelievable," Tony said shaking his head. "I tell you that you got some weird illness and almost died, and all you hear is that you de-Hulked in battle. . . We managed just fine without you, don't worry. You are allowed to take care of yourself once in a while Bruce. Unbelievable."

Bruce stared at him a moment as if he had told him that there was an army of unicorns being ridden by leprechauns flying outside of the Helicarrier. Then he blinked and decided to change topics, "You never answered my original question. What do _you_ not know? Must be some great mystery if the great genius that is Tony Stark can't crack it."

He added the last part playfully, but Tony still felt the words sting him. He also felt a battle raging inside him as to whether or not he should tell the man laying in the bed in front of him, and looking so earnestly at him, (why did he have to have such hypnotic dark eyes?), the truth. Sure, Bruce might run, but he might do that anyway. He had almost lost him, and if it had taught him anything it was that he shouldn't take Bruce for granted. 

_'He needs to know,'_ he decided finally, _'if he leaves, he leaves. I can't not tell him._ '

"I didn't know how to tell you how much I care about you. Bruce," he swallowed down his nervousness and anxiety. It wasn't everyday he made himself so vulnerable, "I love you."

Bruce stared at him as if he had grown a second head before he replied, "Tony, you don't have to say that. I know you feel bad that I'm sick, and you've been worried, but I don't need your pity. And I don't need you saying things you don't really mean or realize you're saying to try and make me feel better."

"I am not saying this out of pity, and I do know what I'm saying!" Tony growled in frustration. Why was this so hard for Bruce to accept?

"No you don't. Tony you've been avoiding me for the past three weeks. You've only sought me out when you had questions, and even then you avoid my eyes. Which is fine, it really is. I mean, I would avoid me too, but face it, you felt guilty that I got sick, and now you're trying to make up for it. But honestly, it's okay, Tony. I didn't expect anyone to notice. No one ever does notice me, and I did my best to hide it," Bruce said levelly.

Tony felt pain shoot through him. Bruce had noticed Tony was avoiding him, and assumed it was because he didn't want to be around him. What was worse was Bruce expected people to avoid him and not notice him. He had resigned himself to living life without anyone paying any attention to him or caring about him at all. 

Tony didn't know what to do with that knowledge. Part of him wanted to shake Bruce and tell him that he needed to think better of himself. Part of him wanted to hug him as tightly as he could and not let go for a good hour or two. And another part of him wanted to hunt down anyone who had told Bruce he was worthless or less than human and make them suffer for what they had done to this gentle, kind, broken man.

"Two things Bruce. First, yes, I was avoiding you, but not because I didn't want to be around you. I avoided you because of how much I want to be with you. I want to be with you my every waking moment. I thought that if we spent much more time together I would start telling you how much I liked you, that I might even love you, and you would pull a runner. You'd pack up your sad little duffle bag and take off to some third world country and I would never see or hear from you again. I've read your file. It's what you do. 

I couldn't bear the thought of you leaving, so I decided to keep my distance until I knew I would be able to control my mouth. Stupid, I know, but that's why. Because _I love you._

Second, it is entirely not okay that you think that no one notices or cares. That might have been the way it was, but that's not how it's going to be anymore. I'm not hiding my feelings anymore. I love you, and I notice you, and I care about you. So not taking care of yourself, not an option. 

Furthermore, the team cares about you too. They may not know how to show it, because you're always sneaking away and hiding out in your lab, but they're going to try harder too. What I'm saying is, you're important to us," Tony said with a slight irritated edge to his voice. He loved the man, but he could be the most infuriating person on the planet. He truly thought he was lower than dirt and that bothered Tony to no end.

"You love me?" Bruce repeated back in shock. 

"Yes. So please, just let me help take care of you. You don't need to be alone anymore. You don't need to hide or make yourself invisible. You have me." 

"I'll try," Bruce said honestly. "This is all pretty new to me."

"I know," Tony whispered with a hint of sadness to his voice. Being loved should not be something new to a man who had lived a little over four decades, but he knew in Bruce's life love had been very lacking.

"You know I care about you too Tony, right? I wouldn't have stayed if I didn't care. I usually figure it's not safe to stay in one place for long, but I feel safe with you. And I knew that me staying would make you happy, and all I wanted was to make you happy. Not to mention being around you makes me happier than I can remember being in a very long time," Bruce said.

Tony kissed the back of Bruce's hand and gave him a meaningful look that said, ' _then let's move forward together._ ' The words were unspoken, but so clear that Bruce smiled and nodded in response.

"The others are going to come in here soon, and they're going to make a fuss out of you. They're going to overcompensate to try to make you realize that they care about you. Some of it's guilt, but Bruce, they really do care about you. They've taken shifts sitting by your side for the last fifteen hours. The Avengers, we're a family. A screwed up dysfunctional family, but a family. Please, don't push them away."

Bruce nodded, and as if on cue the other three Avengers entered with a medic. The medic checked Bruce over and declared that his fever had broken, there appeared to be no lasting damage from the sustained high fever, and he was generally "out of the woods."

As soon as the medic left the other three crowded around him and filled the room with conversation. They told him all about the battle, asked him a million questions, and were just there for him.

Bruce found it hard not to retreat, but he knew this is what he had wanted. He wanted to find family, a place to belong. Sure, a super soldier out of time, two assassins and a genius billionaire, (who might actually love him), weren't exactly the most normal family in the world, but he was so very grateful for them. He let them fuss, and he knew from that day forward he wouldn't be alone.


End file.
